Getting Out and Just Going

The James River Writers June on the James fundraiser event was Thursday night.  Even the rain held off for the event.

I really appreciate the Charlottesville supporters from WriterHouse braving the pouring rain they had to drive through to come.

Course they needed to come accept the Emyl Jenkins Award from me, but I’m still really glad they came.

For a lot of reasons.

As the nominator said when nominating Hampton Roads Writers for the Emyl Award, writing is such a solitary endeavor……writers need support…..

I think the days of the reclusive hermit writer in the cave or turret, and staying there, have ended.  To get people to see and notice your book there has to be Some kind of presence out in the world.

So you Are going to have to Do IT - Do Something in the world - even if you never quite get used to it or even like it.

And that is not at All easy for us solitary writers.

But I can tell you it gets easier.  A little anyway.   Sometimes.   You might still have days that are better than others.   But that’s true of your writing life too isn’t it?

I keep hearing it again and again, from writers at James River Writers Writing Show, to the JRW casual meet up of writers, that we wittily call Writers Wednesday — coming up This coming Wednesday at Capital Ale House downtown Richmond 

- to the other night at JRW’s June on the James fun event.    

This getting out and actually having to meet and talk to Real people is difficult.  To some people that might include a lot of things more than what I am talking about here.

I am talking about getting out and going to writers events.  

Places where you can meet, and even — gulp --- actually Talk to others about writing.  Or about anything really.

We writers are uncomfortable with all this.   

Although it appears Some obviously aren’t.   Or do they just seem that way?

Are some just better at hiding it?

What do you think?

I know that I was one of those typical ‘hiding’ writers.  [And still am, believe it or not.]  Compounded by coming from a computer background, of being, well, in the background.  Or at least not known for the wonderful skills of interacting with real people.

I have talked about, and probably will talk more, about Emyl Jenkins.

Her legacy to me was an indirect one.  I watched her every chance I got.  I realize I’m not any way close to being her.  And she had a charm that I certainly don’t have.   Irritatingly she passed away before I could quite figure out how she managed it all.   ESPECIALLY how she could talk people into such things!  And they were Always so Delighted!     Course as some of her lovely friends and I have talked about, it was almost like an out of body experience… to wake up next morning and realize what we had agreed to!    And hangovers weren’t even involved!   At least I’m pretty sure.

Emyl always seemed to have time for writers, encouraging and urging them on.  Sometimes fussing them on.

Most of all, she made the mingling and talking seem like it was effortless for her.    And she was a Writer!

Maybe there are people out there that it is effortless to them as well?

[Am thinking about whether I really want to hear from you if it is that easy for you.   ;)  Sorrtta.  Ok, half-hearted grin.]

Well, I’ll tell you it isn’t effortless for me to get out there and mingle and speak to you.  

 Regardless of what it Looks like!

Yes, I have friends that I have apparently fooled very well.

But I don’t lie, and it is still very difficult for me.

I can say, it does get a bit easier each time.   Or at least not as cringing stab-in-the-eye painful. Mostly.

Yeah, some people might not speak to you.   But just as they say to don’t take the writing critiques so personally, and that’s still hard, the same thing applies to talking with other writers.  They might just be jerks.   But they might be also panicking just as much inside as you are and coming across as stuck-up jerk. 

As the President of Hampton Roads Writers, Lauran Strait, and I stumblingly talked about the other night, [see I told you. Most writers don’t have an easy time at this socializing / mingling thing] that we both like writing a whole lot more than, you know, actually having to talk to people.   And being President, you know she must have to talk to a lot of people.  

Having volunteered for JRW for a few years now, I know that doesn’t just involve talking to writers.   Double gulp to the throat…and sometimes even the tummy.

But we can survive it!

I mean Come on, when you speak to your characters they are just as big a jerks sometimes too.

And they don’t speak to us at times either.

Yeah, we threaten them with the power to kill them off.  [Bwahahaha, we gloat.]     They laugh at that too you know.   

So pull up your big girl / big boy pants and take a chance on us.  Start coming to a JRW event.  We’re pretty friendly.  Remember we all have our bad days and most probably are scared just like you.

You can try it out casually Wednesday, June 12, at the downtown Richmond Capital Ale House, where JRW Writers Wednesday is meeting this month.

And then the JRW Writing Show at the end of the month.

Start working up to the JRW Conference in October.   It’s certainly worth it.  And you have time.

While I’m talking about James River Writers, I want to give a shout out to the 2013 winners of the JRW Emyl Jenkins Award!

Congratulations Hampton Roads Writers !    

           Thanks to President Lauran Strait for coming to get the Award

And

Congratulations to the team of Sophia Volpi and Louise Ball

It was so great to meet you all!     Even if we didn’t get to talk all that much.  **Sheepish grin**

Writers Doing Social Media in 7 Minutes

The 7 Minute Rule  -  so says David Henry Sterry, other half of The Book Doctors and Arielle Eckstut.

     ‘How to build your social network/platform without getting lost in the time suck’

The 7 Minute Rule for Social Media

How to build your social network/platform without getting lost in the time suck

That’s what he says.

And for those who have met them, heard them, at the James River Writers Conferences [in Richmond, Va.], you know how smart they are.

And I Think they are coming back to the Conference this October too!

Just saying you might want to sign up and come.

The Conference registration opens in June — so coming up soon.

I do admire David and Arielle both, they are savvy and smart, and dynamic.   

[Not to mention raising a Great daughter.]

I also have bought both a print version and an e-book version of their book, 

The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published - How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It…Successfully

And my print version is marked up and filled with post-a-notes.  And resides in stack of books on my night table.

Doesn’t mean I still won’t whine about all this.

I mean I Do Try to do everything!    And know I should be doing more.  But if I get less sleep than I do now I believe my husband just might revolt.  Not that he’s not somewhat right that I should get more sleep.   [No, he is not correct that we do not need more books, have no room for more books.]   But there just seems to be so much that Needs to be done, Should be done [you Know those are the Awful voices in your head], Has to be done, and then of course, there’s the ones you want to do.   Sigh.

There’s the whole of that list that applies to the personal part of life, as well as the whole of that to apply to the professional side of trying to be a writer.   Double sigh.

And I’m behind on things that I have to get done before Thursday’s James River Writers June on the James.   If you are in the Richmond, Va. area buy a ticket and join us.  Fun event.  And helps JRW bring all the great things to writers.

For more casual meeting of your tribe as David talks about in his post, come to the JRW casual meet up of Writers Wednesday, June 12.

For more info’ on Thursday’s June on James and / or Writers Wednesday next week, or even the JRW Writing Show at end of month — not to mention information on the great Conference in October, be sure to check the JRW web site.

And now I think that's been more than 7 minutes, so gotta go!

Find us.  Find your tribe.  Come out and connect.   We can all whine about David’s 7 Minute Rule for Social Media

Surprises

So, it might not be a big surprise to those who know me, that I’m not a big fan of surprises.   

As there was a discussion today at an author event — A Fabulous Event !!!   At Fountain Bookstore  — Disappointment is the emotion that’s hardest, or mostly impossible, to mask.    

So, don’t try to surprise me.   Fair warning.

But I do like it when Happy things happen spontaneously.  Like today.   Running errands, things to do, happen to go have Great Fish and Chips at our fav. place for that - Sine Irish Pub    [hey, I didn’t realize there was one in Arlington, Va. as well as Richmond!]   [they also have other great food too.]

But since we were down there in that ‘neck’ of Cary, we Had to stop in at Fountain Bookstore.

Uh, yeah.  GREAT Independent Bookstore.   ‘Nuff said.   If you haven’t tried, you absolutely Should!

And Kelly happened to be having an author event with the lovely and lively Deanna Raybourn.

Well, as a ‘writer’ myself, who am I Not to support an author.  Right?   [Yes, I have a Great husband that has been around writers and writer talk so many years he has picked it up also.  :::Evil grin::: ]

I had ‘heard’ of and seen Deanna Raybourn’s books around, I just hadn’t picked up any to read yet.   Yes, I have a great husband but he does give me looks when he sees me around books, especially when they are coming home with me, since home is perhaps a ‘bit’ overcrowded with books.

[and no grief on writer not knowing what was going on with fellow writers and book events, I've been sick for over 2 weeks, said great husband sick over a week, so I'm sure we can manage a few hacking coughs still, in your direction.]

But even he was captivated by the author talk today.   It really was a Great talk.   And even though there was ‘reader’ talk about her books, there was also great writer insight talk as well.  We all sat, enjoyably I think, for couple hours.     And it was Great!       Deanna was great!      She talked about her agent, her editors, publishers, her books, as well as her favorite books.    I was happily reminded of favorite books from my reading past, as well as happily jotting down new books to look at that she particularly liked.

I was surprised by our similar reading lists.

So, yes, no surprise, I bought two of her books.

Had to you know.   Someone that enjoys So many of the same books you do, you have to get theirs to read as well.    That’s just the way it is.

It was a great time of talking about books, and learning of new books and authors.

And I made promises to send couple of my favorites that hadn’t been introduced to her yet.

For all those that I have met recently and wanted the information - 

The Really Great World Building info’ from a JRW Conference panel session I did is in this blog post.

With the Terrific information from authors Malinda Lo, Lana Krumwiede, and Christina Lewis Halpern

The Great post of Terrific historical writer Lucia Robson, and her list of references and resources is here on this post.

And be sure to look at posts couple days around those posts cause I did post other nice information and sources from other panelists!

And because I aspire to write beautifully and descriptively I did a blog post on Patricia A. McKillip’s wonderful writing here.

So, the only thing better on a rainy dark cool day like today than all this, is curling up with one of the new books bought.   :::Grin:::

First Pages, Prologues, and Agents Pet Peeves, Oh My

Or as has become a most popular panel at the James River Writers Conference each year, First Pages Critiques.    

The Conference is in October - here’s the blurby from the JRW site, if you want more info’ and to keep up with all the news and latest happenings - yes, we have them! - Check in at the JRW site 

And Sign up for the James River Writers Newsletter.

The 2013 James River Writers Conference will be held Saturday & Sunday, October 19-20, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Attendees can also register to attend pre-conference master classes Friday, October 18, at the Virginia State Capital.

The First Pages session has also gained ‘other’ names over the years such as ‘Simon Cowell / Idol for Writers’ depending on which agents we get to the Conference, but Really it isn’t That bad.  Really.   And the comments are always helpful to everyone!    It really has been one of the most popular sessions for several years.

So put the Conference dates on your calendar, start saving your money, and while you are waiting check out the authors who are coming to the Conference in their JRW Twitter Chats  -  #JRWC13 -

And check them out on the JRW Goodreads ‘book club’ 

These thoughts on First Pages has been brought about by a Writer Unboxed blog post.

The post is titled       What NOT to do when Beginning your novel.

But as we at the James River Writers Conference call it    1^st Pages 

- the importance of those First Pages, and all after that really, cannot be emphasized enough.

You think you’re busy trying to write the dang great novel, agents are inundated with ‘great novels’ all the time.

So get real.   I am Not going to be doom and gloom though, it might take some time, and a Lot of hard work.   But I read something recently that surprised me, several well known writers were saying they knew they weren’t the best writers, that often it’s not the greatest writers that get published, it’s the ones that are driven and never give up.    Does explain some books though doesn’t it.   

The writers and writing teachers were saying that the most gifted extraordinary writers often gave up, rather than persevere.  Rather than figuring out what was going to sell or even making themselves better perhaps.    And it’s a Lot of work!   Not just always trying to write better and be a better writer, but also understanding that books are a business.  And these days it’s even more important to do your research to know what your options are - and what your limits and tolerances are, and to figure out what’s right for You.

Since no matter how much time it takes you to research and write your book, your work isn’t over.  You have to research agents as well.   Not to mention the business of promotion and marketing.  But that’s another discussion.

And since this one is about how Critical and Important those First Pages of your books are, the post on Writer Unboxed gives many agents giving their pet peeves.

One of the things I saw that was probably not intended was what we’ve been told and shown at James River Writers over the years —   agents are human.  They have their likes and dislikes and pet peeves just like the rest of humanity.

Which is why after you Finally get your book finished to the Complete best of your ability, done the best you can, you Have to research agents to try to figure out the best ones you think would be the best ones for your precious work.   Course you do realize that They see Lots of people’s precious work so as anything in that much abundance, it loses it’s preciousness in those kind of quantities.  Right?   Yeah, yeah, not what we want but if you can embrace that, even a little, it’s helpful, believe me.

After you have researched your group of agents to send to, and Perfected your Query letter [another discussion] [and after perfecting your book, remember] and sit and anxiously wait, and perhaps get the dreaded Reject letter, it’s okay to sit and blink a moment.  Then dust yourself off and research and send to more.  Remember the surprising comment above about great versus persevering writers.  Persevering writers who are working to get better we hope.

As the Writer Unboxed post highlights, agents are human, likes, dislikes, bad days and all the rest.  Just because one thinks your precious stinks and sucks the universe, doesn’t mean every one will.  

Remember, Every reader is different too.   We all don’t like the same books so why would agents.

Hang in there.    Believe me, most writers have been where you are - wherever that is!

Keep at it.  

The post I keep talking about on Writer Unboxed is here.

Writing is Writing, Who Knew

I was reminded at James River Writers Writing Show at the end of February, that all writing is writing.  And Editing.   

But it all has things in common no matter what form you are working in.

It really struck that Writing is Writing.

And no matter what the subject of the James River Writers Writing Show is that month - they are always the last Thursday of the month —  go to it. 

 You will definitely learn something. 

Or at least be reminded of some good points.

Like THIS point - can it be repeated too many times?

 the 1st 5-10 pages are crucial to hook the reader. Then you build the rest off a successful hook.

1st pages Critical with screenplay And books

First 5-10 pages need to hook the reader/viewer

First 5-10 pages need to hook the reader/viewer. #writingshow #writetip #jrwc13” Man. Novelists get one page.

 Show Don’t Tell

Don't tell emotion can insinuate but keep lean to point

With any writing -  after all, isn’t this what makes some writing flow along and others bog down?

keep the script lean, short, brief to the point.

 you can have the best plot in the world, but ruin it with bad dialogue.

 dialogue needs to be real, but not too real. Keep the interesting parts.

general rule of thumb, dialogue shouldn't be more than 4 lines. But there are cheats - breaking it up with actions.

when writing dialogue - spew it out, then go back and ask if it makes sense to say it that way.

when editing dialogue, there are multiple editing passes to get it right

dialogue is a 'musical' soundtrack to the story.

And to help with dialog - help readers keep individual characters straight:

Get to know char Find voice of char 

 know what the spine of the story. Follow the main characters, don't get distracted.

Network like crazy #jrwc13 Great advice for writers of any kind

Genre specific film festivals can help you more easily break into the film industry.

 film festivals are great networking environments. You never know who you might meet.

Make sure you party and have fun at film festivals, but network network network the entire time

festival awards can be huge. Just placing as a finalist can open doors

 participate in festivals and film groups. Network, network, network.

Go to conferences and festivals and network, network, network.

If you are doing screenplays - The Screenwriters Bible book Highly recommended

And don’t we all want to sell our writing -    

 Keeping the story marketable

And sell it well.    Guess it would be redundant to say, sell-J.K. Rowling-well.

Selling your writing had some interesting thoughts - apparently giving ‘visual’ mental clues to the writing is important to screenwriting, but also helps people with ‘placing’ books as well.

Some of the interesting, uh, ‘visual’ comparisons mentioned at the Writing Show  - 

LOTR battle scene with paintballs instead of swords

[Translation for non-fans, of Twitter or Tolkien - Lord of the Rings with battle scenes with paintballs instead of swords.]

Not to mention this one -

"Psycho meets Goonies." Never thought I'd hear THAT at the #writingshow. #jrwc13

And some other great writing advice / thoughts :

When it comes to persevering in the writing/film business, being stubborn can be a strength

Understanding the business improves writing and producing skills.

important to know your audience.

 Find where your project fits. Challenge yourself creatively.

Thanks to all the Twitter feeders from JRW Writing Show -

@leilagaskin

@ywrite

@BillTheWildcat

@kaherndon

For more of their tips, 

and just great Writing Tips 

follow them on Twitter or tune in to hashtags      #JRWC13     #jrwc13        #writingshow

#JRWC13 .. Either cap or uncap - will also get you the great Twitter Chats that are going on with authors coming to the JRW Conference in October as well!  The Twitter Chats are happening all the time!

You can get great tips and information at ALL James River Writers Events -

Writers Wednesday - TOMORROW evening!  

Writing Conference - October

Writing Show -   next one,  is about Killing Your Darlins’  [my southern translation.  After all, it’s My blog, for more info’ on these and all events go over to the JRW site.

And even get a ’true’? Recap of the Feb. Writing Show, in non-Twitter speak.

So come to the Writing Show in couple weeks, on March 28^th, and Tweet along with us.

— Get info’ on the JRW site

And speaking of JRW Events - James River Writers is a non-profit, which means we depend on your support and membership.

Another Great JRW event is their fundraiser in June.

Which is where JRWs Emyl Jenkins Award is presented.  Emyl Jenkins was an active member and supporter of JRW, and an important supporter and champion of all writers everywhere.    She touched a lot of writers and readers before she suddenly passed away in 2010, a great loss to JRW and to writers, especially to the ones who knew her, perhaps even greater to the ones that didn’t get that chance.

If you know of someone in Virginia who has made Virginia a better place for writers, we want to hear about them.  Go over to the JRW site and nominate them for the Emyl Award.   The guidelines are here -

Deadline is not that far away, so why not go do it now.

And keep making Virginia a better place for writers, like Emyl did.

Words to Mull On

For life.  For Writing.    For… well, you tell me.

On dealing with authors -  perhaps having a little more compassion?

No one starts out to write an awful book.

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.

— William James

The greatest power we have to affect our world is always at our fingertips:  our ability to change how we see things…..

—— Ready for Anything book by David Allen

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life.

— Robert Louis Stevenson

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.

— Plutarch

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin—real life.  But there was always some obstacle in the way.  Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid.  Then life would begin.  At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

— Father Alfred D’Souza

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could.  Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Perhaps we would word things differently but each has a voice that can, and will, speak to us.

Just as our stories do when we write them down.

Take from them what you will.

Working with People Selling Books

No, I’m not talking about some guy accosting you in a raincoat with books in a multitude of pockets.

But hey….  No, No, No, that’s not advocated.   Unless it’s your neighborhood bookseller trying to save their business.  And with the sad fact of the pressure on them these days……

This post is about the James River Writers Writing Show at the end of January:

January 31, 2013

Bookstore Battle Plan:  

                                          How to Get Your Writing into Bookstores

The panel consisted of Katarina Spears, Elizabeth Gleichman, and soon to be published Ginny Pye sitting in for Fountain Bookstore owner Kelly Justice who was so sick she couldn’t make it.   [Kelly, hope you get well Soon!]

Katarina Spears manages the gift shops at the Library of Virginia, the Virginia State Capitol, and an international online store.

Elizabeth Gleichman is an Assistant General Manager at Books-A-Million.

And sitting in for Kelly Justice owner of independent bookstore Fountain Bookstore, www.fountainbookstore.com, was Ginny Pye soon to be published by a small literary press and giving her perspective as an author.

For more detailed information see the JRW website.

And there should be a more detailed posting of the night’s talk on the site, so be sure to check that out.

There was a teaser at the end of the evening of Pet Peeves of Bookstore Owners / Buyers, so hopefully those will be posted there also.  There was some great information given but also a promise of more, so do be sure to check that out.

One of the things mentioned, and those writers that have been writing for awhile will perk up at this -

It was stated that JRW is a great Platform.

So if you’ve been hearing about you Have to Have a great platform, and let’s face it, if you haven’t heard it, you’ve not been working the business end of writing very long.

Then the next thing becomes the catch of as an author you Need a Great Platform, but if you are a nobody how are you going to get one.

Becoming a part of James River Writers can help you with that!

James River Writers is a non-profit that depends on its volunteers, and of course monetary support, so there has to be some way you can help JRW, and in return JRW helps you with knowledge and power on what it is to be a writer, and how to better your writing, and your career path.

So while you are roaming around on the JRW site, and of course, we hope you do, consider clicking and becoming a member.  Or remember to Renew your membership.   So all this knowledge and support can continue.

Now going from the unsponsored message of joining JRW back to the gist of the January Writing Show:

Of course when you bring up anything nowadays, talk will come up at some point about Social Media.  Especially as it pertains to getting word out.  And as authors and writers we are all going to have to do that and deal with that.

It was stated if you do have a book, or when you do, your book should have its own page on Facebook!

Who knew?

I guess it makes sense, I mean your characters and book take on a life and entity on it’s own anyway.   Okay, so perhaps I’m taking that a little far.  *Grin*   But perhaps use it as one of the memory things to remember to create a page for your book.

Wonder if it needs its own Twitter account too?    Too far?  *Grin*

It was mentioned that figuring out the key phrases that get retweeted can help your retweet ratio.  Well, if you include them in your original tweets of course.  

A lot of what was said was commonsense stuff that most mamma’s trained into you from an early age.  Or should have anyway.

Be respectful.   Play nice.   Treat everyone with respect and courtesy.

Treat your bookseller as a professional, I mean they are you know.   Make appointments to approach them to talk about selling your book.

And Don’t think of it as selling your book — or really as you’ve seen people doing, pressuring you to buy, - think of it as making a connection with people.

They might not buy right at that moment, for whatever reason, but that doesn’t mean they won’t buy it later.   And recommend it to all their friends.

You just never know.

Like my own personal tidbit, be careful what you say in Public, you never know who’s at the next table listening.  If it’s complimentary and Good, by all means, go for it.  If it isn’t, first you might want to figure out why it isn’t - you might just find it’s nothing to do with the other person at all, it’s something in you that you have to deal with, that you just don’t recognize and want to deal with.  Yep, you can only change you, you know.  And you remember the first impressions and all that.  Take a long time to change, if ever.

It also seems that giveaways work really well for getting traffic in on your site and buzz about your book.

As well as, whatever you can do to generate interest, flashing lights, rolling trailers, etc….   Uh, maybe not the guy with the trench coat with large pockets.   Just might want to rethink that, all I’m saying.

Oh, and if you have Anyone show up at your book signing, be Grateful!

Don’t grouch and complain.  Also see my rule about talking in public above.

Be grateful and appreciative of what you do have.  If you are at your own book signing that means you’ve made it at least that far.   And there’s a whole lot of us that are out here still working toward that.  So you have much to be thankful for, no matter where you are in your life.   Be Thankful.

*Found in notes -   Educate Yourself about it !

And just found in notes that should be mentioned    -     Educate Yourself!

I would hope you did that with the Writing of your book, you should also do that with the business of Selling your book as well.

Nowadays there's no reason to not be smart about these things.

See what you can find out when you Build Relationships?     With other writers, with readers, with booksellers.....